Thursday, November 6, 2008

My Fellow Americans

I would like to say that I am happy that I am alive to see the first African-Amercian President. I realize that many in the media are referring to him as biracial. I don't know what his preference is but when others see him and if it were someone that I know, he would be referred to as African-American. This is a significant step for America. It shows the rest of the world that we are not clinging to decades old prejudices. We are a long way from traveling on ships from Africa to the new world. We are a long way from being denied the right to vote or being considered 3/4 of a person or whatever they were calling us back in the day. There were many bi-racial children on plantations but they were still referred to as black even though their master was their father. Let's not steal the significance of this event away from African-Americans. We realize that Obama doesn't hold any prejudices. He can't. His mother was white and his father Kenyan.

Let's not trivalize everything by trying to debate on what he is. We do know that he is the first African-American President of these United States of America. We are seeing Dr. King's dream in action where we are judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. Obama's election helps to eliminate from many of our African-Americans the excuse that I can't make it or "the man" won't let me do this and that and so and so. Obama is proof positive that if you put God and family first, the sky is the limit. Obama had a plan to get to this day. I say we all need to update our 5, 10, 15 and 20 year plan and start strategizing for what God will have us to be. I say we as Americans start working across the board as a team to continue to show the world what true leadership looks like by taking care of our own, being a friend to Israel and helping fight injustices and terrorism in the world.

This is a long way from having to pass a literacy test just to have the right to vote. When he was elected and the following day, I could feel the spirit of God excited within me. Just by the number of electoral votes, it is proof positive that God had His hand in it. The economy grew worse a few months before the election. Why? God wanted America and the world to see what four more years of Republican leadership would look like. I'm sure some people who were going to vote for McCain had a change of heart after they lost a job that they had held for 20 years. I'm sure that they had a change of heart when their portfolio went from $500,000 in net worth to about $250,000 all in one week. I'm sure they had a change of heart when some went from the middle class to the working class.

I have a dream today that we can no longer use race as an excuse not to get out there and hustle and be all that God has called us to be.

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